Sunday, January 31, 2010

Social Standards of Tattoos

There are two types of people in the world of tattoos: the first is those who get one or two somewhat small, well thought out (or maybe not so well thought out), tattoos for a couple reasons. And the second is those who get tattooed to fulfill a deeper meaning and often have several or more tattoos. Tattoos address an individual's personal experiences and will most likely tell us what's important to that individual.

The first group of people that get tattooed are those that want to fit in or feel accepted by a larger peer group such as friends, colleagues, and organizations that they are involved with. Another often more common reason for this group, is that these people get tattooed out of rebellion. This group often gets tattooed when they are adolescents because of the conflicts over identity and to show their control of their own bodies. Tattoos have to be seen before someone can get the idea to get one done and the current medias interest with tattoos strongly fuels this system. Celebrities tattoos are constantly being showcased in movies, magazines, TV shows, and all other forms of media which heavily influences adolescents decisions in getting one.

The second group of people are those who get tattooed because it means something very personal to them and helps them express their thoughts, beliefs, and ideals as well as commemorate a special memory or loved one. These people often have a larger number of tattoos and sometimes even choose to cover their whole bodies. This is obviously the more outrageous group that has a deeper understanding of what tattoos used to stand for and think less about the stigmas surrounding tattoos in our current times.

Tattoos have been around for thousands of years and have been put on everyone from prison gangs to aristocrats. Just like anything else, there are certain trends and cycles that tattoos go through. Nowadays, tattoos have become much more complex and include almost any piece of 2D art that you can find that can fit onto a part of the human body as well as a full range of tattoo lettering. In the last 10-15 years they have become much more widely accepted and people from all walks of life now sport tattoos.